Sherlock Holmes has his mind palace, which sounds rather grand. My Muse has an old Victorian mansion—a little dusty, a little weathered, with enough rooms to make things interesting. One room has a meadow for the unicorns and a mountain or two for the dragons. Another has battlefields and dark possibilities for the future. There’s even a spaceship around here somewhere. So come in and have a look at what the Muse and I have shaped over the years. Don’t mind the creaking floors and stiff doors. There is always a way out, even if it’s not always the way you came in. You noticed the curtain on the top floor that looked like it had been pulled back by a pale hand? Don’t worry about that. The ghosts are playful. Most of them, anyway. Let’s start with a room I’ve returned to many times over the years. The Fairy Tales were among the earliest stories I wrote because retelling a fairy tale in a different way is like painting a room a different color and rearranging the furniture. The frame and the walls are already there, but when you explore something a little bit different within those boundaries, a…

Book Title: THE QUEEN’S PRICE Character Name: I am Daemonar Yaslana, Eyrien Warlord Prince.                                 I am Liath! I am a Sceltie Warlord Prince. I help Daemonar herd the young humans living at SaDiablo Hall.   1.) How would you describe your family or your childhood? We are a complicated family because not everyone who is considered family is also related by bloodlines. We are the most powerful and the wealthiest family in the Realm of Kaeleer. My uncle, who is the High Lord of Hell, is the family’s patriarch, and his word is law. That’s the surface truth of the SaDiablo-Yaslana family. The other truth is my father and uncle are very strict about children following the rules and respecting the Blood’s code of honor because they believe power should be tethered to acting responsibly for the sake of everyone around us. They also believe that children should have fun, and if a dash of mischief is part of the fun, they tend to look the other way as long as no one gets hurt. My mother is a hearth witch and a loom artist, so she is the softer side of the family—unless she gets riled. Even my…

Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I love almost every aspect of it, but I particularly love planning out the itinerary so that I can make the most of my time and see all sorts of new sights and places. Traveling in person has resumed for many folks, but most of my travel right now is through books. Rather than a typical travel schedule, I thought it would be fun to plan an out of this world spring break adventure to explore some of the various paranormal and fantasy worlds authors have created for us. So, without further ado, let’s get started! Day 1 We start off with a trip to the planet Harmony, courtesy of author Jayne Castle.  Illusion Town is our first stop on the planet and is described by the author as a weirder version of Las Vegas. The Harmony world features all sorts of fun things, from ghosts and paranormal energy to the Midnight Carnival, Dead City, and Ghost City. GUILD BOSS is the latest offering from Jayne Castle but honestly readers new to the series will want to devour all of her books as they are just that good! One of my…

First, I just want to say that I love this book’s cover! AB: I do too. It fits the atmosphere of the story so well.   As somebody unfamiliar with this series, when I first glanced at the cover and skimmed the description, I assumed the series was primarily a fantasy series. After looking at the description again, I find there are some murder mystery elements as well. How would you describe this book for readers unfamiliar with this series? AB: CROWBONES and LAKE SILENCE, the previous book set in that part of the Others’ world, could be described as urban fantasy cozy mysteries. I was playing with the idea of what a cozy mystery – amateur sleuth(s) finding dead bodies and helping the police solve the crime – would be like in a world ruled by the supernatural beings, and the stories set in the area around Lake Silence are the result. The first five books in that world (the Lakeside Courtyard stories) are urban fantasy. WILD COUNTRY, set in another location in that world, was written over the template of the old Westerns with sheriffs, gamblers, and outlaws. Of course, when the sheriff is a shifter Wolf and…

Senior Reviewer Debbie Wiley  I don’t remember the first fantasy novel I ever read but I do remember the first one I fell in love with. JRR Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT captivated me like no other book had, taking me on a long and winding quest where creatures of legend lived and breathed. Since that long-ago time in 8th grade, I’ve soared on the backs of dragons with Anne McCaffrey, attended wizarding school with Harry Potter and JK Rowling, and gone on a quest with a talking cat with Tad Williams. Diving into other worlds is one of the biggest allures of fantasy novels. Marshall Ryan Maresca has done a marvelous job at world building, crafting four series set in the same world. THE THORN OF DENTONHILL, the first book in the Maradaine series, caught my attention initially and features a mage student at the local university who has a secret life as a crime fighter against a major crime boss. The Madalaine Constabulary series now has three books in it, including the most recent one, A PARLIAMENT OF BODIES. Not only is the Madalaine Constabulary series my favorite of the four, but A PARLIAMENT OF BODIES is my favorite book out…

Every year, when December rolls around, I find myself gravitating back toward the same books over and over again. They’re my ultimate comfort reads, the books I want to curl up with when the snow it falling and it’s bitterly cold outside. It’s been enough years at this point that it really feels like visiting old friends for the holidays, which just adds to the attraction of these particular rereads. What books are these? Of course, I’ll tell you! The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop. I first discovered these books when I was in high school, and they only seem to get better with each reread. Anne Bishop doesn’t shy away from some truly dark topics, but she has this wonderful way of threading the darkness with amazing relationships, found families, and surprising humor. I love all her stuff, but the original Black Jewels trilogy is the one I gravitate back toward again and again. Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy by Jacqueline Carey. I’ve had the original trilogy so long that my paperback is starting to fall apart, and I’ve since re-purchased digital copies to save my arms (they’re VERY long books). Jacqueline Carey is straight up brilliant with how she…